BMW E30 - Built for the Mentalist - FS £700 anyone?

[RobT]

Or rather (as the BMW brochure states) 'Built for the Individualist'. They come out with some shite these press people don't they.

 

Here's my latest purchase, a 1989 325i coupe with 117k on the clock, no history and a short MoT. But it was cheap for one of these. And importantly it's solid in key areas such as the inner and outer arches, scuttle area (just a small rust spot) jacking points, and sills. The sunroof has rust all along the edges but the roof is fine. The bloke I bought it off lives local and trades in these and other German stuff. I've often driven past his house and gawped longingly at the latest Beemer he's got sitting in his driveway. He was selling a Touring recently which was my first choice but was well above my budget. I went to see it in the dark last night, took it for a drive in the pouring rain, and christ is it quick! Both its and my back end were twitching a bit

 

Just a few rubbish pics I took once home today, before my OCD cleaning of the interior commenced (first thing I do is to clean the inside properly on a new motor, a bit like a dog pissing on a lampost to mark his territory).

 

Not the most inspiring of interiors, I'd prefer a bit of beige in there myself

 

 

 

 

Despite the lack of history all the fluids are fresh, exhaust and rad look nearly new, and it's got 4 decent Michelins on it so it appears to have been maintained properly. Is the usual story of old giffer gives up driving/dies (not sure which in this case) and history goes AWOL which is a shame. In fact, this is the sum total of the history bizarrely stuffed down inside the engine bay next to an oily rag

 

 

 

First impressions are it's FAB! I've never driven a six cylinder before and I'm loving the noise it makes, and the way I can just pottle around town lazily and then nail the fucker when i get to a fast straight bit out on a dual carriageway. Visibility is good all round, nice and simple inside with no fannying about with bluetooth, sat nav 'computers' etc like you get in moderns, and it's compact so fits in the garage with plenty of room to spare. Perfect

 

BUT, and it's a big wobbly BUT, I still prefer my good old lump of Austin Rover Montego shite. Go figure....

[shedvan]

Mr Ahmed!

 

I remember that guy, I was living in Birmingham on the City Road and he came around door to door on the knock looking for business! Absolutely barking mad, I reckon you'd have to be in serious need of straws to be clutching at him for answers...

 

Sound looking BMW, an auto too I'd say thats a hoot!

[KruJoe]

This looks lovely Rob. Enjoy it!

What is the auto box like to live with? I suppose the manual ones see more demand.

Oh, and is the cloth on the bolster still intact? You've done well if it is!

[dollywobbler]

Mr Ahmed sounds brilliant. All that stuff, including bringing back loved ones AND teaching you how to play games. What a geezer. I'm glad our paths never crossed.

 

Nice buy Rob. I'd like to try one of these. Closest I've got is a four-pot E21 which was fairly dull to be honest.

[pandarus]

Gorgeous motor, a BMW is on my list of Autoshite to own one day.

 

Much respect from me to you dood

[cort16]

It's great to see one of these stock as normally the 325's have been lowered, spoilered and fitted with shite wheels.

They're are actually quite tricky on roundabouts and sharp bends in the wet so watch out! I've spun pretty much every old BMW I've had although I am a shit driver.

[Spiny Norman]

Looks smart, quite a refined 'iron fist in a velvet glove' type of car. Definitely like old BMWs, even if you do need windscreen wipers on the side windows!

[RobT]

It's great to see one of these stock as normally the 325's have been lowered, spoilered and fitted with shite wheels.

They're are actually quite tricky on roundabouts and sharp bends in the wet so watch out! I've spun pretty much every old BMW I've had although I am a shit driver.

 

My thoughts exactly, it's a bit of a wolf in sheeps clothing just left as it is, and looks more nimble than one that's been bodykitted and blinged up. I don't like cars with body kits be it factory or barried.

 

I'm planning on doing a trackday so I can get to grips with it, as I reckon I'll end up crashing it otherwise!

 

This looks lovely Rob. Enjoy it!

What is the auto box like to live with? I suppose the manual ones see more demand.

Oh, and is the cloth on the bolster still intact? You've done well if it is!

 

Cheers Joe, it 'aint bad The auto is only a 3 speed ZF one and seems ok around town, I'm just hoping it doesn't rev too high when on the motorway. ATF is clean and red too, jurassic park! Will do a coolant change though as mixture looks a bit weak. Seat bolster is a bit frayed but the bloke I bought it off knows of some seats going for 20 quid local so that's them sorted.

 

Oh, and it's only done 84 miles since the last MoT so fingers crossed there's no horrors waiting as that's due mid-December.

 

Mr Ahmed sounds brilliant. All that stuff, including bringing back loved ones AND teaching you how to play games. What a geezer. I'm glad our paths never crossed.

 

Fug knows why it was there rolled up in the engine bay, but just goes to prove Mr Ahmed pops up in unlikely places! I wonder if he does MoTs....?

[Spiny Norman]

Cheers Joe, it 'aint bad The auto is only a 3 speed ZF one .....

 

I'm pretty sure it should be a 4 speed ZF 4HP22 in a G plate. You should just be able to feel the lock-up clutch engage at about 50-55mph in top.

[RobT]

Thanks for that, I did think it was a bit odd having only a 3 speed in something like this. I haven't got it above 40 yet as not been out of town so will have a proper hoon up along the M25 at the weekend to check it out.

[Pete-M]

Yup, it'll be the ZF 4HP22.

 

If it's got a big daft switch for sport mode then the box is actually quite good. If it hasn't it's basically the same box as fitted to XJ40s, Range Rovers and the like and will be pretty strong as long as you don't put more than 300 lb ft through it, which is highly unlikely with a 325i.

 

I had a 325i SE Touring auto for a while. I liked the car but really couldn't get along with it as an auto which is unusual as I really don't like BMW manuals and like autos in most things. The box seemed to want to keep the engine out of its happy zone most of the time, which meant it wasn't that quick and used a fair bit more fuel than the manual ones I've had. It went well once it was persuaded up above about 3000 rpm, and was handy enough in town, but every time I wanted to give the thing some beans the damned auto box would cock things up.

[RobT]

Yup, it'll be the 4HP22.

 

If it's got a big daft switch for sport mode then the box is actually quite good. If it hasn't it's basically the same box as fitted to XJ40s, Range Rovers and the like and will be pretty strong as long as you don't put more than 300 lb ft through 'em, which is highly unlikely with a 325i.

 

I had a 325i SE Touring auto for a while. I liked the car but really couldn't get along with it as an auto which is unusual as I really don't like BMW manuals and I'm a fan of autos in most things.

 

No sports mode on this one, probably for the best if I want to remain alive.

 

What didn't you like about them Pete? Box does seem a tad ponderous which suits me as most of the time I do just want to waft along.

[Junkman]

Those things are great fun in Winter, you'll see. Once you had it sideways, there is no way back.

[barrett]

Looks like a tidy old thing Rob, but somehow not very 'you'!

 

Glad the Monty has had a stay of execution though

[trigger]

That's very nice Rob, I'm fancying a BMW 320 or 520i myself at the moment as a work hack, They have a real classy look about them still and are a far better improvement on the styling of the current range of BMWs, The only downside seem that they prices of them are going up making sub £1000 bargains slim pickings.

[RobT]

Looks like a tidy old thing Rob, but somehow not very 'you'!

 

Glad the Monty has had a stay of execution though

 

I'm having my midlife crisis a few years early! I've always fancied one of these and, as Trig points out, I wanted to have a go before prices go up and up (this was comfortably sub a grand).

 

But you're right, it's not really me. It'll do though until I can find a suitable mk1 Rover Sterling which is what I want next.

[Guest]

These are superb. Four years ago I managed to find a G plate 325i manual with 94k on it.

Had been sat in stables for a few years.

Full service, longer diff with LSD and off you go!

Yep, fully agree they are tail happy, very much so but absolutely loved it.

If the central locking goes it'll be a dry joint in the control box bottom of drivers A pillar.

GSF are good for bits.

I seem to recall yours may have an LSD as it's auto?

Oh and the noise of the 6 is superb!

Enjoy

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

This looks to be a lovely old thing.

[DodgyBastard]

I'm getting a little bit tired of most e30s these days, I have a 325 touring which I'm in the middle of fitting an m42 1.8 from a 318is. Hopefully when its up and running it'll be more economical and I'll want to take it out..

[Split_Pin]

Nice one, bottletop alloys too.

 

I like the dash on the E30's, chunky and functional, old school stuff.

 

My dad had a 4-pot white Touring one of these. He loved it but it was a bit small for the family. He had to pull out all the stops to get those alloys, fog lights and a radio!

[nisfan]

With my tendency to go through a lot of cars and still have a 325i 2 years on speaks volumes, but what is one doing on these forums they're not shit enough.

An auto would have to be specced with an LSD to have one, didnt come as standard. My first 325 was a switchable auto and was EPIC. If you want one to shift you have to really bury the throttle, i've had a few where the kickdown bit behind the accelarator was sticky.

Do you about the double tap to get it to kickdown an extra cog?

[Formula Autos]

I had, for a few weeks, an F reg 316, and it was a great little car. Proper povvo spec, with placky wheel trims and only a radio (no cassette), but you could tell it was a properly engineered little thing. Little bits of rust on the rear arches and front valance aside, it seemed like it would go on forever.

 

I would imagine that the bigger engine and a sprinkling of equipment means that yours is a very nice car indeed - it certainly seems in decent nick. Well bought Sir!

 

I never treated the one I had as 'my' car though. I bought it (way below its actual value) off a neighbour who was struggling to sell it - mainly because he was too tight to pay to advertise it anywhere and sticking a For Sale sign in the window when you live in a cul-de-sac doesn't exactly get the message out there much. Free advertising on the notice board at Safeway hardly helped either, so with it sitting unused for a couple of months on his drive he was getting increasingly desperate to sell. I stuck it on a month's insurance, cleaned it up, fitted a Blaupunkt stereo from a crashed 5-series I found in the local scrappy, and used it to go on a holiday to Scotland in. Then I sold it through AutoTrader at a nice little profit. At the same time I was using a Pug 106 diesel (the extra shit 1.4) to do my rounds in for work, which felt like it was made out of old Quavers packets in comparison. With the benefit of hindsight I should have kept the Beemer, but just saw it as a financial transaction at the time and was in a sort-of 'the Pug's an L reg, so it has to be better, hasn't it?' mentality. I now know the error of my ways.

[RobT]

An auto would have to be specced with an LSD to have one, didnt come as standard. My first 325 was a switchable auto and was EPIC. If you want one to shift you have to really bury the throttle, i've had a few where the kickdown bit behind the accelarator was sticky.

Do you about the double tap to get it to kickdown an extra cog?

 

This one doesn't have an LSD thank god, I don't need that level of excitement/fear in my life! No switchable auto either, but I'll have a play to find out about the double-tap thing.

 

Already got a problem with it. Turn the key and it clicks a few times, but then fires up. Will do the easy stuff first such as check earths and connections, but have also read about the neutral safety switch can cause these symptoms. 'The internet' yielded a solution whereby you push the gear lever 45 degrees to the right to affect the switch, so I'll give that a go and hopefully such an easy sounding bodge will sort it (I recall a similar problem with a Volvo 740 I had,but sold the car before I got the chance to fix it ).

 

But once it does start, the sound of that six is trouser stirringly gorgeous.

[cort16]

I don't think it even clicks when it's in gear it just doesn't do anything. Try starting it in gear and see if down the same thing (with your foot on the brake).

[Pete-M]

What didn't you like about them Pete? Box does seem a tad ponderous which suits me as most of the time I do just want to waft along.

 

I liked the car, but the box meant it was more a handy little estate car rather than a fun thing to drive. Mine had the same box as yours, black leather and aircon. I didn't like the seats (the sport leather is nice, mine were comfort jobs which weren't that comfy) and the auto box used to irritate me doing anything other than pootling about.

 

If I ever buy another one it'll be a 325i Touring SE manual with sport leather, LSD, AC and BBS.

[RobT]

 

I liked the car, but the box meant it was more a handy little estate car rather than a fun thing to drive. Mine had the same box as yours, black leather and aircon. I didn't like the seats (the sport leather is nice, mine were comfort jobs which weren't that comfy) and the auto box used to irritate me doing anything other than pootling about.

 

 

I'm taking it out for a proper run this weekend down some A-roads, so will see if I feel the same as you about the 'box. I'm really fussy about seats and, so far, I find them quite comfy despite the fact they look the total opposite. I must be the only person in the world to find Renault 25 seats uncomfortable, yet the cold slabs this BMW offers are better for me

[garycox]

I'm taking it out for a proper run this weekend down some A-roads

 

Down to Goodwood on Sunday morning?

 

I'll be there with Barrett and Seth if all goes to plan.

 

BMW looks OK, I think I'd prefer the 25 though (or the Montego, Metro etc...). Just looks a bit 'dull' tbh. Sorry!

 

Maybe you should make it stand out by lowering, 20" rimz and that.

[Largactil]

Lovely piece of kit - Well bought.

 

I fancy one at some point, and hopefully they're still affordable once I've gotten out of my French shite-mobile fetish.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

Very nice. I bet it's also mega-cheap to run: smallish tyres, easy-to-get parts, obviously classic insurance...

[RobT]

I'm taking it out for a proper run this weekend down some A-roads

 

Down to Goodwood on Sunday morning?

 

I'll be there with Barrett and Seth if all goes to plan.

 

BMW looks OK, I think I'd prefer the 25 though (or the Montego, Metro etc...). Just looks a bit 'dull' tbh. Sorry!

 

Maybe you should make it stand out by lowering, 20" rimz and that.

 

Am off to Ardingly autojumble. Won't be up early enough for Goodwood I'm afraid.

 

It's better in the flesh Gary, but compared to my usual shite I concede it is a bit dull - drives nice but lacks the character of the Monty. Mustard mitt, it feels a bit weird owning a car that 'normal' people might actually like too